


The American Pasttime

by petersnotkingyet



Series: Family Ties [3]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Brothers, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Little Brother Emmett, Mentions of Past Child Neglect, Past Child Abuse, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 21:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11859726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petersnotkingyet/pseuds/petersnotkingyet
Summary: Bella meets the family.Jasper is 18, Alice and Edward are 17, Rosalie is 16, and Emmett is 15.





	The American Pasttime

It was very uncommon for the Cullens to have guests at home.  Their cousins from Denali and Carlisle’s old friends visited as often as they could, but the distance made it hard.  Every other occasion where someone might come by—dinner with a coworker, a group project for school—usually ended up being at someone else’s home.  No matter how often Carlisle and Esme said they could, none of the kids ever seemed to want to invite anyone over.

The house never seemed empty, though.  Five teenagers, no matter how well-mannered, kept a house busy.  Someone’s bike was always in the front yard, someone’s homework across the kitchen table, someone’s music playing in the background.  On the weekends, they played baseball together.  The kids rode to school together.  As a group of seven outsiders, it was easy for the Cullens to be content with just each other.  While Carlisle and Esme knew that couldn’t last forever, they hadn’t expected the change to come from Edward.

“Can I have someone over on Saturday?” he blurted during dinner.

Carlisle, who’d just come off of a long shift, just stared, but Esme answered for both of them.  “I don’t see why not, as long as you help clean up beforehand.”

“Okay,” Edward said.  “I can do that.”

“Who do you have in mind?” Carlisle asked.  He knew his kids tended to stick together at school.  When they’d moved to Forks, people had talked.  It was a small town, and they weren’t exactly a typical family.  Kids could be cruel.  They’d already been on the outs when Emmett started getting picked on, and Jasper lost it when he caught some of the boys from Emmett’s class holding him under at the beach.  They’d been asked not to come back to La Push, and most people had stopped trying to even be polite after that.

“I know who,” Emmett said slyly while Edward glowered.  “ _Bellaaaa._ ”

“Chief Swan’s daughter?” Carlisle said.

“Yeah,” Edward said.  “I have some classes with her.”

“Chemistry?” Emmett asked, leering at his older brother.  Edward tried to kick him under the table, but he hit Rosalie in the process.  She leaned forward threateningly, gripping a dinner roll like it might become a projectile.

“Kids,” Esme said, and they settled immediately.  “Is she vegetarian?  Or any allergies?”

“No,” Edward said, shaking his head.  “She is a little intimidated, though.”

No one had to ask why.  “We’ll be welcoming,” Esme said warmly.  She glanced at Rosalie’s expression.  “We will _all_ be welcoming.”

“So, Edward,” Carlisle said.  “Is Bella just a friend or…?”

Edward murmured something indiscernible to his plate, but Emmett’s impish cackle was answer enough.  He got a stern look and quieted, but he was still grinning as he returned his gaze to his plate.  Esme tried to steer the conversation in a more civilized direction.

“It’ll be nice to meet her,” Esme said.

“Nice for all of us,” Jasper said, raising an eyebrow at his brother.  “You get away with being secretive at school, but she can’t exactly come to our house without meeting any of us.”

“You guys don’t have to meet everyone I know,” Edward said.

“But we’ve met everyone else you know,” Alice pointed out.

“They’ve got you there, Ed,” Carlisle said.  Then, slightly more serious, he tacked on, “You don’t have to be embarrassed of your siblings, son.  If she really likes you, she’ll love them because you do.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” Edward said.  He looked like he wanted to elaborate, but he didn’t.  Carlisle considered pressing, but conversation drifted on and none of the other kids looked particularly bothered by it.  They all seemed to be pretty sympathetic to the fact that there was no protocol for bringing your first girlfriend home to your family who’s been all but ostracized by the rest of the town.

\----------------------

In an attempt to get all of the kids more invested in having the day go well, Esme recruited them all the help her cook while Edward picked Bella up.  If nothing else, it kept them from making a mess of the rest of the house.  The kitchen wasn’t so fortunate.

Despite Rosalie’s best efforts, lunch came out fine.  They all ate together, an extra chair for Bella squeezed in between Edward and Alice, before the other kids scattered.  Edward showed Bella around, and when they headed for Edward’s room, Esme casually called after them to leave the door open.

“That went well,” Carlisle murmured as the two blushing teens disappeared upstairs.

“It did, didn’t it?” Esme said with a smile.

Edward and Bella got a few hours before the perfect weather and the prospect of an extra person to serve as an umpire was too much for Emmett.  He approached Edward with the same bashful grin that had gotten him his way for years before rounding up Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie.  Once everyone else was in, Carlisle and Esme guaranteed.

“Watch this,” Edward whispered to Bella as they all followed Emmett.

“What do you mean?” Bella asked, but Emmett had already addressed Carlisle.

“Papa, will you play baseball with us?” Emmett asked.  His eyes were the size of saucers, and Carlisle couldn’t help smiling affectionately at his youngest.

“Who’s included in ‘us?’” Carlisle asked, like the five of them weren’t lingering a few feet behind Emmett.

“Everybody,” Emmett said.  “I haven’t asked Mama yet, but I’m getting there.”

“Buddy, Edward and Bella probably want to hang out together since she’s here as his friend,” Carlisle said.

“That’s why I asked them first,” Emmett said.  “So they could say no, no pressure.”

“No pressure, huh?” Carlisle said with a laugh.  Emmett nodded.

“Alice even got Rosalie to loan Bella a tee shirt and gym shorts so she won’t have to play baseball in a skirt,” he said.

“Well, that was very nice of her,” Carlisle said.  “Alright, I’ll play.  Go ask your mom.”

Emmett grinned and took off at a run to find Esme.  Carlisle called after him to walk before approaching Bella with a politely apologetic smile.  “If you don’t want to play baseball, Esme or I could stay back at the house with you two while the others go play,” he offered.  “No one will be offended.  It’s easy to get roped in when Emmett gets excited.”

“I want to go,” Bella said.  “I probably won’t actually play, though.”

“We always need an umpire,” Carlisle said before going to change into clothes more suited to playing baseball.

Once Esme had been convinced and reassured that Bella wasn’t being guilted into coming, the eight of them walked down to the clearing behind the Cullens’ house.  Edward and Bella trailed behind the others.  Emmett was carrying the bat and the baseballs, talking a mile a minute to Jasper, who nodded and smiled encouragingly.

“Your family’s great,” Bella said.  Edward laughed, so she elbowed him lightly.  “I’m serious.”

“Must be pretty different from an only child household, huh?” Edward posited.

“I can’t even remember when my parents were still together,” Bella said, glancing at Carlisle and Esme.  They were holding hands and smiling at each other as they lead their brood of teenagers.

“They think you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Edward said.  “As soon as I asked if you could come over, they wanted your life story.  Dad knows Charlie, so he already had a high opinion of you before you were nice to us.”

“I don’t get the issue people have with you guys,” Bella said.  Edward shrug.  The opinion of a small town had lost its sting.

“It’s Forks, and we’re outsiders,” Edward said as he watched Emmett set up the bases, “and then there was the La Push thing-”

“That you still haven’t told me about,” Bella broke in.  Edward sighed.

“Emmett was really neglected before we got him,” he said lowly, glancing over to make sure Rosalie wasn’t eavesdropping.  “As soon as he realized he was safe and we loved him, he was a teddy bear.  You can’t blame a kid who got no affection for eleven years for wanting to soak it in.  We understood that, but the kids he went to school with didn’t.  Emmett was the only one of us at the middle school then, so we couldn’t watch out for him like we can now.  Then we all went to La Push one day, and Jasper caught a group of boys holding Emmett’s head underwater.  Jazz… Jazz has some protective instincts.  He broke a kid’s jaw.”

Bella tried not to stare at Jasper, who was sitting on a rock with Alice, head thrown back in laughter.

“They couldn’t press charges, of course, with what he was doing to Emmett,” Edward said.  “But the kids who tried to drown my little brother have lived here forever, and what does Forks care about a foster kid trying to take care of his brother.”

“I’m sorry,” Bella said.

Edward shrugged and said, “Look at them now.  Everything worked out.”

Bella looked out across the clearing at the Cullens.  Emmett had finished setting up the bases, and he was trying to drag Jasper to his feet now.  Jasper tried to casually continue his conversation with Alice like Emmett wasn’t there, but his occasional bursts of laughter betrayed him.  Carlisle and Esme were watching fondly, sneaking occasional glances at Bella and Edward, as they discussed how they’d divide into teams.  Rosalie was still doing her best not to look at Bella, but she’d joined Emmett in trying to pry Jasper off the rock.

“Are you two coming?” Alice called to Edward and Bella.

Edward nodded and smiled at Bella as they joined the others.


End file.
